Apparatuses and methods for routing digital voice data in a communication system for hearing-impaired users

A communication system comprising:

• a communication service configured to provide captioning services for hearing-impaired users during a communication session;
• a communication device operably coupled with the communication service, the communication device configured to:
• enable and disable at least one additional function of an analog telephone adaptor (ATA);
• and
• analog telephone adaptor (ATA) device operably coupled with the communication device, the ATA device configured to:
• convert far-end digital voice data received from the communication device to converted far-end analog voice signals;
• transmit the converted far-end analog voice signals to the communication device;
• convert near-end analog voice signals received from the communication device to converted near-end digital voice data;
• transmit the converted near-end digital voice data to the communication device, wherein the communication device is further configured to route the converted near-end digital voice data and the far-end digital voice data between the ATA device and a far-end communication device;
• and
• perform additional functions selected from the group consisting of call waiting, call blocking, facilitating conference calls with multiple connections, providing additional telephone connections, and providing SIP connections to other devices.

A method of facilitating communication in a communication network including a communication device and a communication service, the method comprising:

• receiving far-end digital voice data wirelessly from a second communication device;
• routing the far-end digital voice data to an analog telephone adaptor (ATA) device for conversion to an analog voice signal to be processed by the communication device;
• enabling or disabling at least one of the ATA functions selected from the group consisting of call waiting, call blocking, facilitating conference calls with multiple connections, providing additional telephone connections, and providing SIP connections to other devices;
• transmitting a near-end analog voice signal to the ATA device for conversion to digital voice data;
• routing the converted near-end digital voice data received from the ATA device wirelessly to the second communication device;
• and
• communicating wirelessly with a communication service configured to provide captioning services of the content of at least a portion of the voice data received by the communication device from the second communication device.